


Catching Up

by vintagegore



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: M/M, it might get yikesy later so ill change the warning then?, what is this american horror story?, yikesy as in just bad vibes or sad vibes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:16:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagegore/pseuds/vintagegore
Summary: Dash gets kicked out of his parents' place because he won't get a job so he pulls a Karamatsu and crashes with a kid he used to bully in highschool. It'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine





	1. Chapter 1

_BANG_

_BANG_

Danny groped at the little desk beside him, bringing the phone about an inch from his face. The bright, offensive light of the touch screen glared back at him. _3:30 am. Absolutely delightful._ Danny snorted at his own Vlad-esc sarcasm and sat up slowly, kicking his blankets to the side of the mattress.

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

He dragged cotton socks across the hardwood floor and made his way to the door lazily. Danny only paused to nudge Cujo out of the door’s path, somehow not disturbing the dog’s sleep.

_BANG_

_BAN-_

Danny opened the door unceremoniously to a very tired Dash Baxter.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes with his thumb and index, Danny took a deep breath.

“I don’t remember being transferred to another time zone so you’ll have to assist me here… but isn’t it like, 3 in the goddamn morning?”

Dash could spy the clock on the wall behind Danny, leaning forward a little to read it. “Oh _fuck_.” He spat. “Yeah, it is. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, really.” Danny was cut off by a short yawn. “What uh… What’s up?” He was suddenly aware of the cold escaping into the warm air outside, watching Dash fidget with his coat pocket for a second.

“I got kicked out.”

\--

The little coffee table was pretty much the only piece of furniture in the apartment besides the desk and chair. The mattress had no frame, it just sat in a corner. The whole damn room was practically lined with books. If Dash didn’t know any better, he’d say the whole apartment was made entirely of books and books alone. They varied from _History of Ballet_ to _Astrophysics: An Observation_ to 34 issues of a magazine about painting outdoors. Any part of the wall that _could_ be seen was covered in photos, newspaper clippings, maps, and calendars. Danny sat in the middle of it all, pouring tea into a mix matched pair of teacups. For a moment, Dash found himself wondering something upsetting. _How much about you don’t I know?_

Danny cleared his throat. “You can stay if you don’t mind sleeping on a futon.”

Dash turned from his staring contest with the wall. “Why would you have a futon?” Being famous hadn’t stopped Fenton from being the same quiet introvert he’d always been, so the idea of anyone else staying here was reasonably surprising.

“Danielle, my… cousin,” Danny hesitated on the last word, like something wasn’t right. “She visits sometimes, usually out of the blue so I try to have something for her to just pull out and sleep on, y’kno?”

“Y-Yeah…” Dash didn’t know. He didn’t know much of anything when it came to Fenton. Everyone knew Phantom, but in the face of Danny Fenton, the fanfare and the adoration turned to cautious questioning and morbid curiosity. There was something a little too real about Fenton. Phantom got the glory but Fenton went to bed with the scars. Phantom was loud and confident. Fenton had gained confidence slowly with time in the public eye, but it was a less welcoming confidence. He was quiet and calculating, proof that behind the bragging and patronizing, Phantom was always wary.

The funny thing about Phantom was his tendency to suddenly become uncomfortable, should he be cornered by a citizen or fan. His persona turned too cautious for comfort. Floating just close enough to talk to, but too far away to touch. He’d get quiet and fidget with the seams on his gloves. The light, happy ego that Phantom embodied was abandoned in a face-to-face conversation. Suddenly, Phantom was precise and careful, he would wear an unreadable expression and his voice would become hushed, barely hiding the ethereal echo behind it.  

Looking at the lanky kid across the coffee table, studying through tired eyes, Phantom was there.

Dash hadn’t realized eye contact with Danny was hard to pull off. Danny wasn’t that great at it either, so his eyes would glance to Dash’s hands when he gestured. Dash studied the walls of the small room and forgot himself for a moment. “Hey do you mind if…”

“Not at all.” Danny grinned just a little. “I’ll get some blankets for you.”

Dash was already inspecting various scrap books and pictures when he muttered ‘thanks’. Shifting through a bright pink binder, he found various photos of a little girl, 14 at least, spitting image of Danny. Every now and then, the scrapbook would have a funny little note in it or just something interesting, like a feather or 5 M&M packets in 5 different languages.

Dash was pulled away from his observations by Danny’s reentrance into the room. He dropped the futon and blankets on the floor and mumbled something along the lines of _‘…fuckin AC for once…’_

So much was weird. Phantom felt timeless, removed from age even as he’d faded from public eye. Fenton, once again, was a sharp and upsetting contrast. This was an adult who had aged way too far beyond high school for Dash to feel comfortable.

He wasn’t ready for Danny to _not_ be a tiny geek much less an interesting adult. He absolutely wasn’t _stronger_ than him anymore, arguably he never was considering how many gigantic monsters he’d seen Phantom deck like ghoulish toddlers. Danny clearly had a job, family, a life beyond Dash’s _almost_ football career. He was jealous that Danny was happy to be alone in this little apartment piled with books, only occasionally making public appearances. The last anyone had seen of him publically was him painstakingly schooling an idiot about fossil fuels on twitter and ending the thread with “also radioactive was just less-shitty dubstep” before the dude blocked him.

Dash’s jealously was thankfully chased away by the sub-zero temperature of the room.

“Hey, dude?” he ventured carefully, not sure how familiar Danny was willing to be with his high school bully.

“Yeah?” Danny dropped pillows onto the blanket pile.

“Are you cold? I know it’s your house and I don’t wanna bother you too much b- “

“OH” Danny jumped for the thermostat and quickly hiked it up to a comical degree, “sorry! Holy shit. I always forget that when people are over.” He looked back sheepishly, melting the uncomfortable feeling with an oddly welcoming sense of embarrassment. “Don’t worry dude, you’re not crazy. I keep it as close to freezing as possible. Sorry.”

Dash quickly reassured him “No! I mean, thank you! Why was it so cold?”

“It’s partially me and Cujo absolutely tanking the temp in here and mostly that if it’s not at least 40 degrees I have trouble sleeping.” Danny sat down at the table again, the dog sliding into his lap lazily.

Something else that would bother Dash. This was insanely interesting.

He knew next to nothing about his former classmate and this double life was just _cool_. Danny just being in a room sent the temperature down dramatically and he didn’t even notice. It was badass! He was obviously a total superhero and these latent powers were just _there_ as naturally as anything else.

Enraptured, Dash reached across the table and touched his face to see how cold it was.

_Freezing. That’s so sick._

Horrified, Dash realized he’d touched Danny’s face for no visible reason.

Danny had an incredulous look on his face, obviously not angry but more shocked and amused. Dash pulled his hand back, flushing furiously while his host choked back laughter, desperately trying to avoid outright losing it and embarrassing Dash further. Little blessings.

“It’s…” Danny took a deep breath littered with chuckles, “it’s totally okay, man, that’s not the first time someone’s done that.”

“I am so so _so_ goddamn sorry.”

“No! It’s so okay! I’m laughing because you’re one of _maybe_ three people to realize how weird it was at the last second.” Danny let out little laughing huffs more freely now, “most don’t think about how weird suddenly touching my face is and they just move on like it was totally normal to do!”

Dash was burning up in spite of the temperature only now hitting the 50s. He was distracted from his own severe case of Dumbass by Danny’s admission. “How is that not something people would immediately regret?”

“Oh, touching me like that? It happens a lot. I think people see me so much on TV or online that they assume we’re already close?” He mused allowed, not entirely sure of his theory. “These folks see me shitposting on twitter or making some talk show appearance and because I’m more like them than a talk show host, they think we’re friends. My persona after the planet thing is mostly just _me_ , so talking to me in real life is just a continuation of who they assumed I was. It’s easy, I’ve done it too, you just think ‘I already know so much about you’ and it’s so much closer to what you’d know of a friend than you would a celebrity or actor that it’s natural.”

“That sounds like it sucks a little” Dash offered, not confident in voicing that.

“Oh, it’s _garbage_ ” Danny snorted, “but it’s also funny when someone does realize it like you did. I don’t go out enough to be that bothered by it, though, so I’m fine with it!”

\--

The room was starting to get a little warmer in part due to flushed faces and fuzzy blankets and Danny had begun to honestly pity Dash. The dude clearly didn’t wanna talk about _why_ his parents had thrown him out, he very obviously felt bad for intruding, and he really _really_ overtly didn’t know where to start the catching up they both needed to do.

“Are fans usually annoying?” Dash broke the silence, focusing on Cujo’s passionate rug-eating just by his feet.

Danny thought about it for a second, reflecting on the weirder fans. He’d seen some _shit_ , that’s for sure. He’d been sent fanfiction before. Weird but infuriating in how well written it was (a fanfic about him dating Marie Antoinette should _not_ have come out as well as that did.) He’d gotten tons of fanart from great to incomprehensible, all very sweet except for the one from shadman who he _coulda sworn he’d blocked_. Invasive fans existed and were god awful but thankfully none ever seemed devoid of other interests so that was nice. “I think my dad is the worst fan I have, actually.”

Dash snorted, his shoulders shaking as he laughed to himself. Danny grinned back, relieved.

“You obviously don’t _have_ to but…” Dash started, looking away from Danny, “it’d be neat to see you transform.”

Danny grinned wider. He actually liked showing off the transformation. It’d been such a relief to be able to stop hiding it that when people asked, he was always happy to.

“Sure.” He stood up, but paused “Actually, step back? I haven’t done this around humans in a while and I don’t know that I won’t freeze your eyeballs solid.” Dash complied, scooting across the small room until his back was at the wall.

Experimentally, Danny tested the air with a couple of snow-balls. This told him absolutely jack about shit but he felt mildly better about not freezing his guest.

Over the years transforming required way _less_. He used to have to punch it out of himself, striking weird poses didn’t do anything to make it easier, they just woke him up, in a way. Now it was as easy as breathing, as the light traveled, he began to relax, lifting off the floor slightly and letting out a sigh. He felt the water in the air crystalize a little as he relaxed fully.

Danny looked down at his guest who was absolutely blown away. He’d stopped being smug about that shock years ago but here it felt different. He wasn’t just proud; he was excited to get to know this person again. They’d never been friends in high school but now they were oddly comfortable acquaintances. The excuse to get closer was enticing.

Dash closed his hanging jaw and furrowed his brows, giving Danny a pang of anxiety. Dash spoke after a minute of silent study, quiet and thoughtful, “You’re really… beautiful like this, actually.”

The comment itself wasn’t entirely new, but the pride Danny had felt quickly became something different entirely. His face burned in the high 40s and he scrambled for words, choking out a pathetic _dh-th-thangks_ and almost freezing the floor solid when he touched down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey gang im matt and this is like. a. idk.  
> everyones like 25-ish and i felt like writing abt danny being a pseudo tony hawk where hes kinda faded into the background of public perception and now, like a vine star you forgot about, is schooling randos on twitter about mundane shit. featuring; dash whos uhh 1) gay 2) interested in danny's life because gay and c) a vehicle to observe all the stupid shit i think danny should do with his fame ~~like dissing vocaloid creators like ykno how we only liked wowaka because he was less-shitty dubstep and we didn't know any better all hail hachi?~~ yeah so dannys a mouthpiece for all my shitty bad pop culture opinions ill die on this hill.
> 
> also if you comment a chapter title i like ill use it bc i dont know what to call chapters and i figure most people are funnier than me. ill credit you and we'll have a chuckle about it  
> art by me
> 
> edit: wowaka passed away like. the day before this was posted and i had no fucking clue. i changed the joke to say "radioactive" because it just feels gross to leave up. go listen to wowaka's music. regardless of my shit tier joke about having bad opinions, give "rolling girl" some time outta your day. its a great song and so is most of wowaka's music


	2. doodles #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> these are doodles ive done while writing and/or shitposting

[source: [this](https://youtu.be/QoV_rkzKpW8?t=257), tw for the whole damn video; rape jokes, incest jokes, tbh adum & pals isnt... classy. if you like sleepycabin, oneyplays, or psychicpebbles, you'll like em. if you have, uh, morals and find this brand of humor really gross then avoid these dudes]

[reference to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgNAdjjkK0)]

this is me doodling dash and danny. in my head dash sounds like cody ko bc 1)blond 2)bastard


End file.
